El Niño dominated global climate in 2015, but in Australia the story was more complicated. 2015 was Australia's fifth warmest year on record, and saw the return of very dry conditions to parts of Australia.

Despite a decade of drought and declining rainfall in parts of Australia, there’s still plenty of water to go around.
Maroondah reservoir from www.shutterstock.comDecember 15, 2015

The Millennium Drought ended more than five years ago, but several years of below-average rainfall and El Niño have brought drought back to many parts of Australia. Our latest report on water in Australia shows rainfall is continuing to decline in eastern Australia and increase in the north.

Fires, such as this one in eastern Sierra Leone, are an annual occurrence across Africa.
Reuters/Finbarr O'ReillySeptember 2, 2015

Climate warming is predicted to intensify rainfall patterns. But new research suggests this could even happen within individual storms, as warmer weather makes them more likely to contain short intense bursts.